Ty France had three hits, including a double and home run, and drove in three runs and Chris Flexen earned his 10th victory of the season as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Randy Arozarena hit his 15th homer of the season for the Rays, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
The Mariners improved to 5-0 against Tampa Bay this season. Seattle swept a four-game series June 17-20 at home.
Flexen (10-5), who was beaten in his previous two starts, went 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out six.
Rays right-hander Michael Wacha (2-3) gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings, with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Mariners broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with five runs. J.P. Crawford led off with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. Mitch Haniger’s infield single advanced Crawford to third, and he scored on Kyle Seager’s line-drive single to right.
France then lined a single to right, scoring Haniger and sending Seager to third. A walk to Abraham Toro loaded the bases, and Jake Fraley, who was activated from the injured list earlier in the day, grounded a two-run single to right. Luis Torrens grounded into a force play to bring home the final run of the inning.
The Mariners made it 6-0 in the fourth as Crawford led off with a single to left and Haniger followed with a walk. Seager grounded into a double play, but France lined a run-scoring double to center on the next pitch.
The Rays got on the board with two out in the bottom of the inning on Arozarena’s solo shot over the center-field fence.
Tampa Bay also scored in the fifth as Kevin Kiermaier led off with a triple and scored an out later on Brandon Lowe’s groundout.
France hit a solo shot to left leading off seventh. An out later, Jake Fraley walked, stole second and scored on Jarred Kelenic’s two-out single to right to give the Mariners an 8-2 advantage.
–Field Level Media